Where is my ad?

djrobs · #1 (**permalink**) 07-15-2008, 12:15 PM

New to Google adwords.

For one campaign I've chosen just a few specific key words phrases. When I then enter one of phrases as a google search ads appear but not mine. I've clicked on the 'view other sponser's button and scrolled through all the ads but it's not on any of the pages. (For this particular phrase there was only 4 pages of ads.

What's going on and why are my ads not appearing?

**incrediblehelp** · #2 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 07:11 AM

Are you bidding enough?

djrobs · #3 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 07:16 AM

There are only 4 pages of search results with 'sponsor ads' on. I would have thought that I should at least appear as the last ad. I could then increase my bid rate to get higher positioning, or does it not work like that?

I'm new to this and have just been reading the adwords google help section. It mentions something about standard or accelerated delivery. I'd put a fairly low daily budget - $10 to start with so it could be that the ads aren't appearing 24/7?

I can't work out how to set/amend the delivery rate to accelerated.

ttigner · #4 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 04:39 PM

Hey djrobs. I play in the Adwords game a little so I'll try to shed some light on what's going on behond the scenes.

A daily budget of $10 might not be enough for total exposure. If Google approved your ad and your campaign is active then it will only show during a certain time in the day. Google determines this by your daily budget, and how popular the keyword is. They place your ad during a time they think is best for you to hit your daily budget. So if you don't see it right now, it's probably not that time. There is also no way (that I know of) for you to determine that time yourself.

If anyone can add to what I said that would be great because I know it wasn't a lot of detail. I usually outsource any SEM work I come by so I'm not an "expert" for say, but that's basic info right there.

Vithe · #5 (**permalink**) 07-17-2008, 05:03 AM

Try using https://adwords.google.co.uk/select/...ingPreviewTool

It may be that you have searched for that term a whole bunch and Google has realised that you aren't interested in clicking on the ads, so they don't display correctly for you.

To answer your question about the standard/accelerated delivery option, it can be found in the campaign settings. Enter your campaign, then click edit campaign settings. From this page you can also set ad scheduling so you can set the campaign ads to run for certain times.

Hope that helps.

gavinscott · #6 (**permalink**) 07-17-2008, 06:33 AM

There are a number of possible reasons:
Your daily budget has already been reached;
Your bid amount isn't high enough;
As ttigner said, your daily budget may not be enough for the ads to show all the time; Google try to spread the display of ads throughout the day so that your budget isn't blown by 9am.

deepsand · #7 (**permalink**) 07-17-2008, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vithe

It may be that you have searched for that term a whole bunch and Google has realised that you aren't interested in clicking on the ads, so they don't display correctly for you.

How would a publisher benefit by withholding presentation of ads?

Assuming that such were actually the case, why would the OP's ad be withheld, but not the several pages of others' ads?

Vithe · #8 (**permalink**) 07-18-2008, 05:22 AM

I can't answer you that, but it is most definitely the case. It often happens to me.

If you search for a certain time several times in quick succession, you will see that the top 3 paid results (in the yellow box) move to the results on the right. Presumably this is something similar happening.

As long as the ad preview tool is accurate (which I believe it to be), then I don't mind the reasons too much.

deepsand · #9 (**permalink**) 07-18-2008, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vithe

I can't answer you that, but it is most definitely the case. It often happens to me.

If you search for a certain time several times in quick succession, you will see that the top 3 paid results (in the yellow box) move to the results on the right. Presumably this is something similar happening.

That the layout of results screens may differ, with varying numbers of sponsored listings appearing above the natural ones, and the balance appearing in the right rail is irrelevant to the issue of whether or not Google suppresses the display of certain ads based on, as stated by you, whether or not the user has previously demonstrated an interest or lack thereof of certain ads.

Such interest is factored into the Quality Score, is measured by the aggregate click-through rate, as opposed to that of the user of the moment, and serves to escalate or de-escalate the rank of an ad with respect to its natural rank based on bid alone.

Vithe · #10 (**permalink**) 07-21-2008, 05:18 AM

Well, as stated before, I cannot explain the reason why this occurs. But when I raised the issue of not being able to see certain ads which should have been showing with my Google AdWords manager, he explained that it was a display issue as I had not shown interest on multiple searches, and gave me the Ad Preview link I posted earlier in the topic.

It is perfectly possible he was lying to me, I suppose, or that he had incorrectly diagnosed the issue. But the fact remains that my ads sometimes don't show at all, or show at much lower positions, when I search for them on normal Google than on the Ad Preview screen.

Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to test definitively whether the Ad Preview tool results are correct, but the stats from AdWords which show the average position of certain keywords seem to correlate with them, rather than with what I see when I search.

deepsand · #11 (**permalink**) 07-21-2008, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vithe

Well, as stated before, I cannot explain the reason why this occurs. But when I raised the issue of not being able to see certain ads which should have been showing with my Google AdWords manager, he explained that it was a display issue as I had not shown interest on multiple searches, and gave me the Ad Preview link I posted earlier in the topic.

It is perfectly possible he was lying to me, I suppose, or that he had incorrectly diagnosed the issue. But the fact remains that my ads sometimes don't show at all, or show at much lower positions, when I search for them on normal Google than on the Ad Preview screen.

Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to test definitively whether the Ad Preview tool results are correct, but the stats from AdWords which show the average position of certain keywords seem to correlate with them, rather than with what I see when I search.

Based on my experiences, the most likely explanation re. the Google rep. is that that person simply didn't know what they were talking about.

The simple fact is that, if you do not have a sufficiently high budget and/or quality score, along with the broadest possible keyword type, your ad will not be presented at every possible opportunity for any given query string.

Fitank · #12 (**permalink**) 07-23-2008, 07:46 AM

A basic q, but my be worth checking - I'm not sure what country you are in, but make sure that country is included in the list of countries showing the ad. I say this because I am based in Italy but placing English ads in English speaking countries and not Italy. If I check using Google.it the ads don't show.

Another thing, Adwords has a button next to each keyword that looks like a magnifying glass. If you click on that it will tell you if your ads are showing and also give it a quality score. It could be that for some reason your ads really AREN'T showing up.

It's also worth using the keyword tool and making sure the keywords in your ads match the keywords you are bidding for, at least somewhere in the ad. You can run multiple campaigns with the same budget to keep track of everything.

Let us know how you get on.

Fiona

djrobs · #13 (**permalink**) 07-23-2008, 07:50 AM

Thanks for that. Some useful info I'll explore.

Based in Uk and region is set for UK. I tried to be clever for a separate campaign, selecting only affluent towns for one type of product, but I've got no where with that. I think the problem is IP addresses don't always accurately reflect when the user is. So think will scrap that.